The story that Lawrence writes bears the entire existentialist anguish of the 20th century. The boy needs a parallel and imaginary universe, with the horse as its centerpiece, on which to base his existence, mainly because of an attempt to avoid and evade his own existence. This is where his imagination meets his remarkable gift for choosing horses at the race track.

On the other hand, in Greene's story, the existentialist anguish that the teenagers might be themselves starting to experiment, does not reflect a tragic perspective, but more of a phase of life that everybody has to pass through (which is why Old Misery's remark that he was a boy once as well is important). The prank, despite being conceived with a master plan, is still just a teenager prank.

It is interesting to note, and this is something unique to Greene's story, the way in which the relationships...
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